Happy Thanksgiving (weekend)!

As usual, sorry for the delay!  I got caught up in vacation mode this past week.  I'm sad to see my lazy Turkey days come to an end, but it does means we are that much closer to Christmas!  And now that Thanksgiving has passed, it is time to switch into Santa mode.  But first a few words about our vegan Thanksgiving.

The day started off on the cooler side.  We joined the crowds at Daffin Park to run the 3rd annual United Way Turkey Trot (I'm proud to say I have made it thus far to all three!).  This was the first race of the season that I've run in a sweatshirt, and I didn't regret it for one minute.  I never did warm up, but I guess the benefit is that I didn't break a sweat either.  You can see a photo of me with Jo Hannah, my running partner (who has been MIA this year since she left me to attend college in North Georgia) on the Savannahnow website. 

Then the rest of the day we spent cooking and cutting up at home.  It was everything you could want in a Thanksgiving celebration....70+ degree weather, sunshine, an open fire in the backyard, plenty of wine in the house and lots of friendly neighbors and close friends to keep you occupied.  Oh, and NO TOFURKEY!  That stuff really is awful if you've never tried it.  In fact, we didn't even have a turkey at all, faux or otherwise.  Jason grilled instead a duck...and some sausage, and I think maybe even some chicken.  Whatever it all was, there is still a ton of it in the refrigerator. 

He also grilled a couple pounds of potatoes (sweet and russet) and some glazed carrots and onions.  Inside the house, I made up a vegan version of the traditional green bean casserole.  It resembled the recipe you see on the back of the Green Giant cans of green beans, but the similarities end there.  I didn't even use canned green beans.  But I did find some gluten-free, vegan fried onion pieces and some "creamy" squash soup when I was in Atlanta last weekend visiting Kaitlyn.  I love Trader Joe's, by the way. It doesn't hold a candle to Wegmans, but it is my favorite specialty grocery store.



Thanksgiving Feast! 



Experimenting with the Self-timer..

And now it's time for the holidays!!  I did not attempt to get close to the Black Friday shoppers.  I made one quick stop at JoAnn's Fabrics around noon, making sure it was well past the time for those 3am shoppers to have collapsed.  Even still, there were too many people for my liking.  I don't know how people do it.  I would rather pay the extra money just to avoid all that chaos...and pepper spray.  Did you see where 20 people were injured by a woman using pepper spray to get a heads up on all the other early risers?  And at a Walmart, no less...this woman was serious about her purchase of cheap crap.  Yikes! 

I spent all day wrapping gifts today.  I'm almost done with all of my mailers.  It looks like I will miss yet another Christmas in New York, so everything will have to be sent through the mail... again.  You should see my craft room, though.  It looks like Santa's workshop!  And while I may not be able to spend the holidays with my family, I've got my own family here in Savannah to take care of...which is why I spent a good hour today making stockings for the dogs (don't judge! :p).

It looks like it's going to be a busy season and this week is going to kick everything off.  Savannah's most popular race, the Bridge Run is this Saturday morning, and the Reindeer Run is the 18th.  I'm taking a break from running the weekend in between to attend a cooking class downtown.  I'm going to learn to make pork tenderloin and homemade Twinkies...what?  You didn't expect to find a vegan cooking class in the South, did you??  I'm looking forward to it regardless. 

Happy Holiday Kick-Off Everyone!!!

Post-marathon Euphoria

I have heard it said many times before, but it wasn't until I crossed that finish line myself that I could truly appreciate that I-can-do-anything feeling.  It was incredible!  Honestly, it was like nothing I have ever felt before.  It was an honest-to-goodness euphoric feeling.  And despite the fact that we had to limp the 20 yards to the gear check buses, barely able to put one foot in front of the other, I still felt as if the world was my oyster.  And I would do it again...not right away, mind you.  But I have a very good feeling that this was not our last marathon.  This is just the beginning folks...a monster has been created!

Check out our photos!  The race photographers were mostly at the start and finish line, so you're missing a lot of those great pain shots at miles 18 through 24, but I'm sure you can imagine some of the faces we were making.  The race was going really well until we began to fall apart around mile 18.  We were keeping a great pace, faster than any long run we've ever completed before, but that relentless ITB started acting up just before we hit our own neighborhood and I thought for a few minutes my race was over.  But I was not about to let a little pain (ok, not even a great deal of pain) stop me from finishing this race for which we trained 20 weeks.  And I knew I had coworkers working the water station at mile 19.5, which was motivation enough to pick it back up.  I was not about to look weak in front of them...not after all the smart-ass, "betcha-you-can't-finish" comments I've been putting up with all summer.  Flying past them was just one of the highlights of the race.   

But now it's time to get back into "real world" mode.  Sigh.  It was so nice using that "I'll do it after the marathon" excuse for everything I didn't think I had time for (or didn't want to do).  I guess it's back to reality yet again...

So now to get back to those Halloween photos that I promised...even though it is now closer to Thanksgiving.  We haven't been cooking as much these days.  Or I should say, we haven't been cooking anything that is photo-worthy.  And when we do cook, it isn't around long enough to take a photo.  We have been eating like there is no tomorrow.  And pretty soon we're not going to be able to use the training excuse any more.  I'll be better tomorrow... ;) ...just as soon as we finish the pizza that is currently in the oven. 

Our big Halloween festivities were hosted by the two gentlemen in the photo below.  As you can see by the photos, they took the holiday a lot more seriously than we did.  I have to commend their efforts.  Their apartment looked fabulous and they definitely won in the costume contest.  In case you're wondering, Thing 1 did have an accompanying Thing 2...and she made both of their outfits.  Did you know you could buy adult-size footie pajamas with honest-to-goodness butt flaps?? 

I was a black widow, but you can't really see the rubber spiders glued to my hair piece in the photo.  I guess that makes Jason my millionaire prey, but I think he was going for grumpy old man...or he was just not trying at all.  (Regardless, I think he looks cute in his old man sweater!). 

I made a graveyard cake for the party.  It was supposed to be a full graveyard, but the dog (and not my dog I might add) found the tombstones on the counter top while we were out that morning.  So I had to ad lib with some green sprinkles instead of the crumbly mud and only three dead people. 

Did you know Duncan Hines cake mixes (most of them anyway) are vegan?  You just have to substitute something for the eggs.  I used pumpkin puree for this cake.  I used the spice cake mix and added a can of pumpkin puree and voila!  Instant graveyard! 

And, just in case you are feeling deprived of pizza (and because it has taken me that long to finish this blog), here's a photo of the dinner I am about to consume.  We've been using Bob's Red Mill gluten free pizza dough mix.  It's really pretty good, and a heck of a lot easier than making the 4-flour combination that's required by most of the gluten free recipes.  This one comes in a bag, with the yeast included!   I prefer it when the dough is rolled out really thin, otherwise it stays kind of sticky and doughy even after the top begins to burn. 

Do you like the vegan/non-vegan divide in the center?  :) 

Time to eat!

Trick-or-Trot

Sorry for the lapse in entries.  We are in the final days leading up to the marathon and everything seems to be happening in hyperdrive.  Twenty weeks ago all of this seemed kind of unreal and so safely in the distant future.  Well, that future is NOW and all of this training is about to become very real this Saturday!!  The Rock-n-Roll trucks and buses have already crowded into the downtown area, and local businesses are putting out their "closed on November 5th" signs.  This race is literally taking over the city!  How exciting to be a part of history in the making! 

This past weekend we signed up for a practice race before the Big Day just to whet the appetite a little.  The Trick-or-Trot 10k on Wilmington was being advertised as a "great warm up for the marathon!" But it was anything but warm that morning! We woke up to 40 degrees and rain, but I guess it's best to be prepared for anything on race day and it turns out we could not have asked for better running conditions.  The wait at the start line was a little rough, and it felt like we were back in the cold north while standing around at the end in drenched running clothes, but that cooler overcast weather turned out to be exactly what we needed for a strong finish.  Both Jason and I finished with medals.  That's the first time I've ever placed at an event!  I took the gold for the women's 10k in my age group.  Check out my awesome Halloween-themed medal!

What that medal does not convey is that I spent most of the race trying to catch up with an octogenarian pacing away in front of me.  It was an odd start.   This was not a chipped race, so when the gun was fired, the clock started and it didn't matter how far behind the start line you were.  Your time began the minute that shot rang out.  I'm not saying that old man would not have been in the lead had we all started on the same line, but I was sure not going to let him beat me to the finish, head start or not.  And to his credit, I didn't catch up to him until mile 4 when he stopped at a water station to rest.  (Jason, by the way, was no where to be seen until he came back to get me after his own finish.  I remember when he used to patiently slow his pace considerably to cross the finish line with me...does that mean the romance is gone??  :-P)  

If you're interested in seeing some more of the not-so-complimentary action shots, we are photos #71, 207 and 240 on the website for John Carrington Photography. 

I wanted to add some more photos from our Halloween festivities later that day, but I've delayed posting long enough.  I'll try and remember to add an addendum later...maybe after all the craziness from this weekend settles down a bit.  I have some photos of the vegan graveyard cake I made.  That was pretty much the extent of my Halloween creativity this year, but I do have to prove I got into the spirit (and not just the spirits!) this year.  

One of my favorite annual events in Savannah occurred last week.  In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Mansion on Forsyth hosts a Little Pink Dress party during their monthly "Martinis at the Mansion" event.  They feature the ta-ta-tini and always bring in a vocal artist of some merit.  Andy Grammer came this year.  I know I've heard his music before ("Keep Your Head Up"..or something like that, maybe you've heard it?), but I was not nearly as excited as the group of screaming teenagers who sat at his feet most of the evening.  Still, it's a great excuse to dress up and the one time of year I get to pull out my frilly pink dress from the closet.  We were "spotted" this year by our local newspaper.  You can follow this link to see our photo.